Tommy by the Who, autism theater

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I am trying to adapt the rock opera Tommy, written and performed by the Who, in a new way. Tommy is a story about a boy who is very "low-functioning" autistic and autism is used as a metaphor for the path to enlightenment and also for human obliviousness to the spiritual plane (it was written in the sixties or seventies). It is unlikely that this will ever be performed, but is there any public interest in a show like this? I am trying to stage it so that the original songs are not changed but the content is different.
Also, i am eventually going to try to write a play about teenagers on the spectrum. One will probably be nonverbal and "low-functioning." I would welcome any input on how to handle this, because i have never written a "low-functioning" character before and do not know anyone who is.

Ah, Tommy.

When it was first released in the sixties - the first night it was played on radio - I stayed up and listened to it the whole way through. I had just turned 15, and I bought the album as soon as I could and listened to it often and even played it at school to my music class (I had a young, understanding music teacher!). I was a Who fan throughout my teen years. "See me. Feel me. Touch me. Heal me." could have been my personal anthem - the sense of being different, cut off from others, floundering, were captured by that song.

Asperger's syndrome was unknown in the English-speaking world back then, and I have never thought of Tommy as autistic since then, but it kind of makes sense. I think I probably did - subconsciously at least - click with him for that reason. The desire to be a quiet observer, to have private spiritual enlightenment, to be off in my own world - these themes all struck a chord.